The NHS sends this leaflet to anyone who needs to have further tests after using the NHS bowel cancer screening test kit.
Free printed copies of this leaflet are available to the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme hubs (and their mailing companies) to send with letters referring people for a specialist screening practitioner (SSP) appointment to discuss having a colonoscopy.
This leaflet is also available in A4 PDF format (in English) to print out and provide for people who cannot access digital information (see list above)
Translations are available to view or download in 10 languages.
Published 1 February 2015 Last updated 6 January 2025 +show all updates
Full review of the having a colonoscopy leaflet to improve accessibility and update in line with programme data. Previous PDF version removed.
Updating confidentiality section, replacing mention of Public Health England with NHS England.
Addition of plain A4 PDF version for printing, to provide for people unable to access this information online.
Updated information on the use of personal data in the HTML document.
Updated information on data use, clarified terms and removed PDF.
Updated medicine instructions in Before your colonoscopy section.
A new version of the colonoscopy leaflet is now available. We send this leaflet to people who have had an abnormal screening result using the new faecal occult test (FIT) kit for bowel cancer screening. This new leaflet is also available in HTML format. It can be viewed and printed in large print, and accessed using a screen reader. Translations are also available in 10 languages.
Removed translated versions of the leaflet which are out-of-date.
